The Transgender Day of Remembrance was set aside to memorialize
those who were killed due to anti-transgender hatred or prejudice.
The event is held in November to honor Rita Hester, whose murder on
November 28th, 1998 kicked off the “Remembering Our Dead” web
project and a San Francisco candlelight vigil in 1999. Rita
Hester’s murder — like most anti-transgender murder cases — has yet
to be solved.

Although not every person represented during the Day of
Remembrance self-identified as transgender — that is, as a
transsexual, crossdresser, or otherwise gender-variant — each was a
victim of violence based on bias against transgender people.